Bath Food and Drink

Restaurants in Bath
Bath has a good range of restaurants to suit all pockets. In the town centre, clustered around the top of Milsom Street and the Theatre Royal, there are restaurants offering various types of international cuisine. One of the best is Ristorante Martini, on George Street, a popular Italian restaurant (medium-priced). The Porter pub opposite serves filling vegetarian meals. FishWorks in Green Street specialises in fresh seafood; the restaurant also has a small roof terrace.

Light Meals and Snacks
For a fast and cheap lunch, ideal for the busy tourist, there are plenty of small cafes in Bath serving light meals, toasted sandwiches, jacket potatoes etc. The picturesque Northumberland Passage in the heart of town offers several good cafe options. For an even quicker and cheaper alternative, you may prefer takeaway rolls, pastries and savouries. Good bakeries and deli counters are easy to find in the town centre - one recommended option is The Cooked Meat Company (misnamed as they also sell good vegetarian products) to be found inside the Guildhall Market, close to the Abbey.

Cream Teas, Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea
If you want to enjoy a traditional West Country cream tea (a pot of tea with scones, clotted cream and fruit jam), a traditional tourist destination is the Pump Rooms. This is where visitors have been coming for hundreds of years to sample the hot spring water. It tastes horrible, but the restaurant/tea room also offers extremely expensive afternoon teas in grand surroundings. There are cheaper options; one of these is Hands Tea Room two minutes walk away, just off the Abbey Church Yard. For those with a sweet tooth, Bath has a surprising quantity of cafes specialising in chocolate drinks and snacks. Both Cadbury's (try the glittery chocolate cakes) and Thorntons have highly-recommended cafes on Union Street, the main pedestrian thoroughfare running through the city centre. Bar Chocolat on Argyle Street is a third option, while the first-floor cafe in Waterstones bookshop is a calming place to sit with a hot chocolate and a book.

Drinking
Cider is the local West Country drink, and is widely produced in Somerset - those interested in cider production should head for the Taunton area of the county. In the centre of Bath there are plenty of cosy pubs where you can try local ales and ciders, as well as trendier bars and drinking places specialising in wines or cocktails.

For those interested in real ales, Abbey Ales is Bath's brewery and its ales can be sampled at Bath pubs, including The Star Inn on the Paragon, owned by the brewery.